Combination ball and cord



y 1958 J. A. FANT 2,842,366 I COMBINATION BALL. AND CORD Filed Aug. 16,1954 J ZWX M ATTORNEYS ball.

ij'nited States Patent COMBINATION BALL AND corn) James A. Fant, Helena,Ark., assignor to Hit-A-Homa, Inc., Hinsdale, Ill. a corporation ofiiiinois Application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 450,100

3 Claims. (Cl. 273-26) The present invention relates to a practice ballfor teaching a person to hat a baseball or a softball, and also topermit fielding practice and the like.

Baseball and socalled softball are extensively played throughout theUnited States, and, in fact, throughout the world. A great deal ofemphasis has been placed particularly on baseball in recent years withthe innovation of the so-called little leagues and pony leagues. Theindividual players have heretofore had diificulty in practicing battingor fielding unless a substantial playground area was available to them.For example, it is rather diificult in an ordinary city or village backyard for a person to practice batting a baseball or a softball, or to doany fielding practice. As -a result, practice for these individuals hasbeen limited to times when they could reach a playground which affords asubstantial area for this purpose. It would be desirable to provide apractice ball either for baseball or for softball which would permit oneto practice batting in a small area such as the back yard of any citylot, and, similarly, to be able to practice fielding in an equally smallarea. If this were possible, individuals could obtain a great deal ofpractice, in any event much more than is now possible, without having totravel to a playground which might be some distance away from theirhome. Also, it would be desirable to have a practice ball whereby onecould obtain extensive batting practice by merely having one additionalindividual to assist in such practice.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved practice ball forpermitting an individual to obtain battingpractice or fielding practice in an area not much greater than thirtyfeet in diameter.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvedpractice ball for use in teaching a baseball player or softball playerhow to bat or how to field a It is a further object of the presentinvention to provide a baseball or softball with a heavy cord attachedthereto permittingthe ball .to be swung in the arc of a :circle ofsubstantial diameter, with the batter in a position to swing at the ballas-itreaches acertain .point in its travel around the circle. 7

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds, and the *eatures ofnovelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out withparticularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of thisspecification.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may behad to the accompanying drawing in which: 7

Fig. 1 is a view showing an application of the practice ball of thepresent invention in which a batter is obtaining batting practicetherewith;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a baseball embodying the features of thepractice ball of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view through the ball portion of thepractice ball of the present invention illustrating one step in theprocess of manufacture thereof;

2,842,366 Patented July 8, 1958 ball of the present invention;

Fig 5 is a view of the end of the cord secured to the practice ball ofthe present invention illustrating still another step in the process ofmanufacturing the ball;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Figs. 3 and 4 illustrating stillanother step in the process of manufacturing the practice ball of thepresent invention; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of Fig. 6.

Briefly, the present invention is concerned with a baseball or softball,or any other type of ball which is used in abat type game, secured tothe end of a relatively strong cord of substantial length, such as ofthe order of fifteen feet in length, whereby the ball may be movedaround the circumference of a thirty-foot circle. At one point beneaththe arc of this circle there would be placed on the ground a device orindication equivalent to home plate, in baseball or softball vernacular,and the batter would stand to the side of the plate, as in baseball orsoftball, and hit the ball as it moves past him. The batter can only hitthe ball as it passes directly over the plate.

Referring now to the drawing, and specifically to Fig. 1, there isillustrated the practice ball of the present invention, generallydesignated by the reference numeral 10. This practice ball, if it isused for baseball practice, will comprise a standard baseball 11, towhich is suitably secured in accordance with the present invention acord 12 of the length preferably of the order of about fifteen feet, andat least between eight and twenty feet. This cord may have any weightand strength, but is preferably the type of cord which is commonly soldon the market as wash line. In any event, it has substantial strengthand great flexibility. As is illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing, theball portion 11 is moved along the circumference of a circle of anysize, a portion of which is indicated in dashed lines 13, which with thefifteen-foot cord 12 might be the circumference of approximately athirty-foot circle. The person manipulating the practice ball 10 willpreferably wrap the end of the cord around one hand, the left hand ifthe person manipulating it is right-handed, and then grasp the cord atsome intermediate point thereon with theother hand 14 and begin to swingthe ball 11 in a circle, with the hand 14 acting as the center of thecircle raised above the head of the person manipulating the ball. Thecentrifugal force will move the ball out to the maximum distance that itis permitted to move by the cord 12, and the speed can be controlled bythe operator, as can also the height above the ground and various otherfactors. In practicing batting, a batter, designated as 15 in thedrawing, will stand in a conventional place relative to a plate .16, andthe arc of the circle in which the ball 11 is travelling will be such asto cause the ball 11 to move directly over the plate 16. The operator,in manipulating the practice ball '10, can cause the ball '11 to .movetoward the batter just as it reaches theplate 16, or to move away fromthe batter just as it reaches the plate 16, as is desired, to simulatepitching 'in and out curves, respectively. This control is obtained bythe control hand 14 of the operator, which hand determines the center ofthe circle around which the ball 11 is travelling. Moreover it will beunderstood that by manipulating this hand the ball can be made to dropas it crosses the plate 16, or to rise upwardly suddenly as it crossesthe plate, and thus, by proper control of the ball, it can be made totravel over the plate 16 in the manner of a ball thrown to the plate bya pitcher. The batter will swing at the ball as it comes over the plate,and the operator who is manipulating the ball will be able to watch thebatter and will be able to give him pointers as to his stance, watchingthe ball and the like.

The ball can be moved over the plate at a relatively slow speed to startwith, and as the batter becomes more skilled at batting the ball may bemoved faster and may be caused to go at various angles, and the like, bya twist of the wrist of the operator. It has been found that greatlyimproved coordination of the eye, stance, swing and follow-through isobtained with the practice ball of the present invention, and this canall be accomplished in a very small back yard or the like.

When the batter hits the ball, it will merely reverse the direction ofrotation, and, of course, if the ball is fouled, it may rise upwardly ordrop to the ground. The operator can readily determine what type of hitwas made.

With the present invention fielding practice can also be obtained by oneperson only. ,In this case a loop is made in the end of'the cord 12, andthis is tied around the gloved hand of the ball player, who then throwsthe ball out in front of him with the other hand. When the ball reachesthe end of the cord 12, a quick jerk on the taut rope from the arm towhich it is secured will cause immediate return of the ball for fieldingthe same as if it had been hit by the batter.

In Fig. 2 of the drawing, there is illustrated the practice ball 10 inthe form of a baseball 11 to which has been secured the cord 12, only asmall portion of which cord is shown. It will be appreciated that thepresent invention is equally applicable to a softball, and theapplication to a baseball is merely by way of example.

For the purpose of giving accurate baseball practice or softballpractice, as the case may be, the ball 11 should be a standard orofficial baseball or softball. A problem then arises with respect tosecuring the cord 12 thereto without interfering with the constructionand without changing the response or other characteristics of the ballwhen used in batting or fielding practice. In accordance with thepresent invention, there is provided a novel arrangement for securingthe cord 12 to the ball 11. Preferably, and as illustrated in Fig. 3 ofthe drawing, the baseball 11 comprises the conventional cork or rubbercenter 17, and the surrounding string section 18, all of which isenclosed within the conventional horsehide cover 19 which is made in twosections united by the conventional seams 20. The cork or rubber center17 and surrounding string section 18 may be generally termed a core. Inaccordance with the present invention, either before the cover isapplied to the ball or at least before the section 19a of the cover, asshown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, is applied thereto, a hole 21 is drilleddirectly through the center of the ball of a size to accommodate thecord 12. The next step in the process of manufacture comprises insertingthe cord 12 through the opening 21, which is a passageway directlythrough the center of the ball. The end of the cord inserted into theopening 21 is then pulled through a short distance and frayed, asindicated at 22, best shown in Fig. of the drawing, where a portion onlyof the cord 12 is illustrated. The frayed end of the cord is thenimmersed in a liquid rubber or similar material, so that a mass ofrubberlike material firmly united to the cord 12, as designated at 23 inFig. 6 of the drawing, is provided. This mass of rubber is then causedto conform to the periphery of the ball, and the section 19a of thecover 19 is then put in place. With this arrangement a very strongconnection between the ball 11 and the cord 12 is provided which in noway impairs the standard construction of the ball. Extensive use of thepractice ball 12 of the present invention has demonstrated that a veryfirm bond is obtained between the cord 12 and the ball 11 in the mannerdescribed. If the rubberlike material secured to the frayed ends of thecord 12 should happen to start to slip through the opening 21, it willbe prevented from passing through the rubber or cork section 17. In anyevent, no difficulty has been found in the cord 12 coming loose from theball 11.

It will be understood that the specific means of securing the cord 12 tothe ball 11 which has been found to be very satisfactory may bemodified. If desired a swivel means may be included somewhere along thelength of the cord 12.

In view of the detailed description included above, it will beappreciated that there has been provided a practice ball which becomes avery useful tool in teaching one to bat a baseball or a softball, as thecase may be, and it is also useful in giving one fielding practice.Moreover, the ball permits use in a very small space where otherwise itwould be impossible to practice batting a baseball or softball.Extensive use of the device of the present invention has demonstratedits usefulness, and has shown that persons practicing with the ball findtheir batting averages greatly improved after practice therewith.

While there has been illustrated and described an improved practiceball, as well as the process of manufacturing the same, it will beapparent that numerous changes and modifications thereof will occur tothose skilled in the art, and it is intended in the appended claims tocover all those changes and modifications as fall within the true spiritand scope of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A ball and cord combination comprising a ball having a solid core, acover for said core, said ball having a hole therein which extendsdiametrically through said core and through one side of said cover, saidhole being enlarged at one end of said core opposite the end of saidhole adjacent the hole in said cover, said cord being disposed in saidhole, and an enlargement on said cord disposed in the enlarged end ofsaid hole and wholly within the normal periphery of the ball to preventdisassembly of said cord from said ball.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said enlargement comprises a massof resilient matter in which the end of said cord is embedded.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said mass of resilient matterconforms to the periphery of said core.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNTTED STATES PATENTS1,683,910 Minnix Sept. 11, 1928 1,907,412 Zimmer May 2, 1933 2,547,776Rankin Apr. 3, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 281,497 Great Britain .Dec. 8, 1927597,176 Germany May 18, 1934 456,645 Canada May 17, 1949

